Florida Falls To 6th In Business Climate

Florida fell to sixth place among the states in a widely watched ranking of manufacturing climates released on Tuesday by the Chicago accounting firm Grant Thornton.

The state captured first place in the annual survey from 1981 through 1983 but slipped to third the next year and declined again in the surveyed released Tuesday, which was for 1985. South Dakota, which replaced Florida in 1984 as state with the best climate for manufacturers, kept its No. 1 ranking in 1985.

In the years when Florida topped the lists, the Grant survey was a keystone of the state`s economic development campaign.

Other states ahead of Florida this time include Utah, Nebraska, Arizona and North Dakota. As in 1984, Michigan was last on the list.

Wages and unionization levels replaced energy as the most important concerns of U.S. manufacturers last year, the study said. In those areas, Florida ranks near -- but not at -- the top, the study says.

The shift in priorities helped the Southwest states become the region with the most favorable manufacturing climate, Grant Thornton said. The nine-state Southeast region, which was ``long preferred as most hospitable`` by U.S. manufacturers, is now ranked second.

Grant Thornton, formerly called Alexander Grant & Co., cited the ``intrusion of hot dog stands and billboards`` as a factor to be guarded against in the Southeast. ``Not many Southerners, including developers, want to recreate the sprawl of Miami or Virginia Beach along the Southeast Coast,`` the report said.

However, the Southeast continues to claim four of the 10 top-ranked states, the study noted.

Thirty-six state manufacturing associations, with more than 90,000 members, were polled to produce the survey. The groups rank 22 factors important to business success, and the states are then evaluated based on wage, tax and other data compiled by Grant Thornton.

Florida continued to place near the top in several factors. It had the lowest welfare benefits in the nation and ranked in the top five with its low taxes and unemployment compensation benefits, its growing population and its high vocational-education enrollment.

In wages, Florida`s rank of 8 remained the same as the year before. It slipped from 8 to 10 in unionization, and from 39 to 40 in energy costs, the state`s weakest area.

Last year`s top state, South Dakota, ranked first because it has low energy costs, and no income, corporate or property taxes, according to Selwin Price, the partner in charge of the study.

Elsewhere, the Frost Belt ``continues to close the gap with the Sun Belt,`` the study says, although the Great Lakes region still placed last among eight areas in attractiveness, manufacturers said.